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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2003

Particle Generation And Evolution In Silane (SiH4)/Acetylene (C2H2) Flames In Microgravity

The objective of this experimental program is to advance the understanding of the coupling of particle formation with gas phase combustion processes. The work utilizes the unique SiH4/C2H2 combustion system which generates particulate products ranging from high purity, white SiC to carbonaceous soot depending on equivalence ratio (Ref. 1). A goal of this work is to identify gas phase or particle formation processes that provide the enthalpy release needed to drive the combustion wave, and to locate the steps of the particle formation process that determine SiC stoichiometry and crystallinity. In a real sense, these SiH4/C2H2 flames act like highly sooty hydrocarbon flames, but with simpler chemistry. This simplification is expected to allow them to be used as surrogates to advance understanding of soot formation in such rich hydrocarbon flames. It is also expected that this improved understanding of SiC particle generation and evolution in these self-sustaining flames will advance the commercial potential of the flame process for the generation of high purity SiC powders.

Keil, D. G.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Impact of Future Low-Emissions Combustor Technology on Acoustic Scaling Laws

The overall goal of a recent research project at the Raytheon Technologies Research Center, under National Aeronautics and Space Administration sponsorship, was to develop a first-ofits-kind database of detailed unsteady measurements characterizing noise sources of far-term advanced low-emissions aero-combustors. The program addressed the need for fundamental combustion-noise experiments which, in the near term, enable improvements to reduced-order models for use in system level noise assessments at the preliminary design stage for advanced air transport vehicles. In addition, optical measurement techniques were refined and validated for usage at the higher pressures and temperatures relevant to future combustor designs. In the long term, results from this program can be utilized to validate high-fidelity prediction methods suited for detailed multi-disciplinary acoustics/emissions combustor design. This paper concentrates on one aspect of the overall project, namely an examination of the legacy scaling laws for broadband combustor noise.

aeroacoustics, turbomachinery noise, combustor noi↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Impact of Future Low-Emissions Combustor Technology on Acoustic Scaling Laws

The work is a summary and further analysis of unlimited-rights acoustic data acquired under NRA Contract NNC16CA39C (September 2016 - November2019) with United Technologies (now Raytheon Technologies) Research Center, East Hartford, Connecticut. NASA/CR-20205011099/VOL1, https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20205011099. The overall goal of the Contract was to develop a first-of-its- kind database of detailed unsteady measurements characterizing noise sources of far-term advanced low-emissions aero-combustors. The program addressed the need for fundamental combustion-noise experiments which, in the near term, enable improvements to reduced-order models for use in system level noise assessments at the preliminary design stage for advanced air transport vehicles. In addition, optical measurement techniques were refined and validated for usage at the higher pressures and temperatures relevant to future combustor designs. In the long term, results from this program can be utilized to validate high-fidelity prediction methods suited for detailed multi-disciplinary acoustics/emissions combustor design. This presentation concentrates on one aspect of the overall project, namely an examination of the legacy scaling laws for broadband combustor noise.

aeroacoustics, turbomachinery noise, combustor noi↗
NASA NTRS1978

Direct firing of coal for power production

The use of new technology and advanced emission control hardware to reduce emissions from the direct combustion of coal to produce electricity in California is considered. The technical feasibilty of a demonstration project on an existing 81-MW boiler is demonstrated.

Papay, L. T.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The NASA broad specification fuels combustion technology program at Pratt and Whitney

The technology required to accommodate the use of broadened properties fuels in commercial aircraft engine combustors with minimum impact on the emissions, performance, durability and engine operational characteristics is discussed. Emphasis was placed on defining the potential for reducing the fuel sensitivity of the reference combustion system through design refinements and the introduction of more advanced technology combustors. To this end the tests conducted included the evaluation of variations of three different combustor concepts representing progressively more advanced technology levels. It was demonstrated that reduced fuel hydrogen content has adverse impacts on current single stage combustors; the best opportunities for reducing the fuel sensitivity of these combustors are through improved fuel injectors and advanced liner cooling and structural concepts and that the advanced technology staged and variable geometry combustor concepts have inherent operational flexibility that can be exploited to accommodate changes in fuel composition. Also, advanced technology combustor concepts were evaluated. A variable geometry combustor capable of airflow modulation during operation and a new concept which is a further evolution of the Vorbix combustor are discussed.

Lohmann, R. P.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Laser-energized MHD generator for hypersonic electric air-turborockets

The analysis and design of an open cycle Faraday MHD generator suitable for use in an electric air-turborocket cycle, the MHD-fanjet, is presented. The working fluid for the generators is unseeded high temperature hydrogen, generated by a standing, laser-supported combustion wave. This study also examines the performance of an advanced combined-cycle engine, powered by beamed energy, proposed for use in future SSTO aerospacecraft. This innovative engine incorporates the MHD-fanjet for the acceleration role within the hypersonic flight regime, from about Mach 11 to above Mach 25. Performance results indicate that specific impulses could fall in the range of 10,000 to 16,000 seconds. This would enable propellant mass fractions as low as 6 percent to 9 percent for such advanced shuttlecraft flying SSTO missions to low earth orbit.

Myrabo, L. N.↗
NASA NTRS1991

An overview of the Penn State Propulsion Engineering Research Center

An overview of the Penn State Propulsion Engineering Research Center is presented. The following subject areas are covered: research objectives and long term perspective of the Center; current status and operational philosophy; and brief description of Center projects (combustion, fluid mechanics and heat transfer, materials compatibility, turbomachinery, and advanced propulsion concepts).

Merkle, Charles L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Scientific use of Space Station Freedom

The overall strategic science planning of the Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) is presented. The science opportunities inherent to the restructured Space Station are discussed and a synopsis of the OSSA implementation plan for Space Station Freedom utilization is offered. Attention is given to the microgravity science and applications facilities, the advanced protein crystal growth facility, the biotechnology facility, the modular combustion facility, and the life sciences facility.

Rhome, Robert C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Laser diagnostics for microgravity droplet studies

Rapid advances have recently been made in numerical simulation of droplet combustion under microgravity conditions, while experimental capabilities remain relatively primitive. Calculations can now provide detailed information on mass and energy transport, complex gas-phase chemistry, multi-component molecular diffusion, surface evaporation and heterogeneous reaction, which provides a clearer picture of both quasi-steady as well as dynamic behavior of droplet combustion. Experiments concerning these phenomena typically result in pictures of the burning droplets, and the data therefrom describe droplet surface regression along with flame and soot shell position. With much more precise, detailed, experimental diagnostics, significant gains could be made on the dynamics and flame structural changes which occur during droplet combustion. Since microgravity experiments become increasingly more expensive as they progress from drop towers and flights to spaceborne experiments, there is a great need to maximize the information content from these experiments. Sophisticated measurements using laser diagnostics on individual droplets and combustion phenomena are now possible. These include measuring flow patterns and temperature fields within droplets, vaporization rates and vaporization enhancement, radical species profiling in flames and gas-phase flow-tagging velocimetry. Although these measurements are sophisticated, they have undergone maturation to the degree where with some development, they are applicable to studies of microgravity droplet combustion. This program beginning in September of 1992, will include a series of measurements in the NASA Learjet, KC-135 and Drop Tower facilities for investigating the range of applicability of these diagnostics while generating and providing fundamental data to ongoing NASA research programs in this area. This program is being conducted in collaboration with other microgravity investigators and is aimed toward supplementing their experimental efforts.

Winter, Michael↗
NASA NTRS1992

Stratified Charge Rotary Engine Critical Technology Enablement, Volume 1

This report summarizes results of a critical technology enablement effort with the stratified charge rotary engine (SCRE) focusing on a power section of 0.67 liters (40 cu. in.) per rotor in single and two rotor versions. The work is a continuation of prior NASA Contracts NAS3-23056 and NAS3-24628. Technical objectives are multi-fuel capability, including civil and military jet fuel and DF-2, fuel efficiency of 0.355 Lbs/BHP-Hr. at best cruise condition above 50 percent power, altitude capability of up to 10Km (33,000 ft.) cruise, 2000 hour TBO and reduced coolant heat rejection. Critical technologies for SCRE's that have the potential for competitive performance and cost in a representative light-aircraft environment were examined. Objectives were: the development and utilization of advanced analytical tools, i.e. higher speed and enhanced three dimensional combustion modeling; identification of critical technologies; development of improved instrumentation, and to isolate and quantitatively identify the contribution to performance and efficiency of critical components or subsystems.

Irion, C. E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Stratified charge rotary engine critical technology enablement. Volume 2: Appendixes

This second volume of appendixes is a companion to Volume 1 of this report which summarizes results of a critical technology enablement effort with the stratified charge rotary engine (SCRE) focusing on a power section of 0.67 liters (40 cu. in.) per rotor in single and two rotor versions. The work is a continuation of prior NASA Contracts NAS3-23056 and NAS3-24628. Technical objectives are multi-fuel capability, including civil and military jet fuel and DF-2, fuel efficiency of 0.355 Lbs/BHP-Hr. at best cruise condition above 50 percent power, altitude capability of up to 10Km (33,000 ft.) cruise, 2000 hour TBO and reduced coolant heat rejection. Critical technologies for SCRE's that have the potential for competitive performance and cost in a representative light-aircraft environment were examined. Objectives were: the development and utilization of advanced analytical tools, i.e. higher speed and enhanced three dimensional combustion modeling; identification of critical technologies; development of improved instrumentation; and to isolate and quantitatively identify the contribution to performance and efficiency of critical components or subsystems. A family of four-stage third-order explicit Runge-Kutta schemes is derived that required only two locations and has desirable stability characteristics. Error control is achieved by embedding a second-order scheme within the four-stage procedure. Certain schemes are identified that are as efficient and accurate as conventional embedded schemes of comparable order and require fewer storage locations.

Irion, C. E.↗
NASA NTRS1997

The Efficiency of the Smoke Meter at Characterizing Engine Emissions

The effectiveness of a smoke meter's ability to characterize the particulate emissions of a jet fuel combustor was evaluated using the University of Missouri-Rolla Mobile Aerosol Sampling System (UMR-MASS). A burner simulating an advanced jet engine combustor design was used to generate typical combustion particulates, which were then analyzed by the smoke meter. The same particulates were then size discriminated to ascertain the effective impact of aerosol diameter on smoke number readings.

Paladino, Jonathan D.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Design of a Novel Gaseous Hydrogen-Oxygen Rocket Injector Element

NASA and Aerojet are developing a Rocket-Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) engine under the Advanced Reusable Technology program. The rocket application requires that the combustion process be stable, complete, and take place in as short a distance as possible without compromising the structural integrity of the injector itself. A novel gaseous hydrogen-oxygen rocket injector element design was arrived at through an iterative design process making extensive use of CFD simulations, which resulted in a design that is meeting design goals. Sub-scale versions of the injector have been built and tested in a unique test-rig and in a sub-scale RBCC engine. The Aerojet RBCC concept integrates small rocket thrusters into the rearfacing base area of struts placed in the flowpath of a scramjet (Supersonic Combusting Ramjet) engine. In one mode of operation, at vehicle takeoff, the rockets provide the primary thrust with additional thrust coming from an ejector effect as air is drawn into the engine inlet, entrained, and accelerated by the rocket exhaust.

Glenn, Dennis E.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Applications of the Method of Space-Time Conservation Element and the Solution Element to Unsteady Chemically Reactive Flows

This document reports the conclusion and findings of our research activities for this grant. The goal of the project is the development and application of the method of Space-Time Conservation Element and Solution Element, or the CE/SE method, to simulate chemically reacting flows. The product of this project will be a high-fidelity, time-accurate flow solver analyzing unsteady flow fields advanced propulsion concepts, including the low-emission turbojet engine combustion and flow fields of the Pulse Detonation Engines (PDE). Based on the documents and computer software of the CE/SE method that we have received from the CE/SE working group at NASA Lewis, we have focused our research effort on addressing outstanding technical issues related to the extension of the CE/SE method for unsteady, chemically reactive flows. In particular, we have made progresses in the following three aspects: (1) Derivation of the governing equations for reacting flows; (2) Numerical treatments of stiff source terms; and (3) Detailed simulations of ZND detonation waves.

Yu, Sheng-Tao↗
NASA NTRS2003

Small Engine Technology (SET) - Task 4, Regional Turboprop/Turbofan Engine Advanced Combustor Study

Under the SET Program Task 4 - Regional Turboprop/Turbofan Engine Advanced Combustor Study, a total of ten low-emissions combustion system concepts were evaluated analytically for three different gas turbine engine geometries and three different levels of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) reduction technology, using an existing AlliedSignal three-dimensional (3-D) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code to predict Landing and Takeoff (LTO) engine cycle emission values. A list of potential Barrier Technologies to the successful implementation of these low-NOx combustor designs was created and assessed. A trade study was performed that ranked each of the ten study configurations on the basis of a number of manufacturing and durability factors, in addition to emissions levels. The results of the trade study identified three basic NOx-emissions reduction concepts that could be incorporated in proposed follow-on combustor technology development programs aimed at demonstrating low-NOx combustor hardware. These concepts are: high-flow swirlers and primary orifices, fuel-preparation cans, and double-dome swirlers.

Reynolds, Robert↗
NASA NTRS1997

Thermal Radiation Effects Analyzed in Translucent Composite and Thermal Barrier Coating

Ceramic parts and coatings are needed to withstand high temperatures in advanced aircraft engines. In hot environments, such as in the combustion chambers of these engines, infrared and visible radiation can penetrate into some ceramics and heat them internally. The internal temperatures depend on radiative effects combined with heat conduction, and on convection and radiation at the material boundaries. Since engine temperatures are high, radiant emission can be large from within translucent parts and coatings, and this must be included in the analysis. Transient and steady-state behavior are both important. During a transient, radiant penetration provides more rapid internal heating than conduction alone, and the temperature distributions are usually considerably different than for steady-state conditions; this can produce transient thermal stresses. Analytical and numerical methods are being used at the NASA Lewis Research Center to predict transient temperatures and heat flows in translucent materials. A transient analysis was done for a composite of two translucent layers. The layer refractive indices were larger than 1, producing internal reflections at the boundaries and at the internal interface. In addition, steady-state results were computed for a two-layer composite with one layer opaque. The results were used to assess the importance of internal radiation in a zirconia thermal barrier coating on a cooled metal wall. Since the radiative transfer equations are rather complex, especially when internal scattering is included, approximate methods are being investigated that might be convenient for computer design programs. An approximate two-flux method was used and verified by comparisons with solutions that used exact radiative transfer relations. The two-flux equations include scattering without increasing solution difficulty.

Siegel, Robert↗
NASA NTRS2006

NASA's J-2X Engine Builds on the Apollo Program for Lunar Return Missions

In January 2006, NASA streamlined its U.S. Vision for Space Exploration hardware development approach for replacing the Space Shuttle after it is retired in 2010. The revised CLV upper stage will use the J-2X engine, a derivative of NASA s Apollo Program Saturn V s S-II and S-IVB main propulsion, which will also serve as the Earth Departure Stage (EDS) engine. This paper gives details of how the J- 2X engine effort mitigates risk by building on the Apollo Program and other lessons learned to deliver a human-rated engine that is on an aggressive development schedule, with first demonstration flight in 2010 and human test flights in 2012. It is well documented that propulsion is historically a high-risk area. NASA s risk reduction strategy for the J-2X engine design, development, test, and evaluation is to build upon heritage hardware and apply valuable experience gained from past development efforts. In addition, NASA and its industry partner, Rocketdyne, which originally built the J-2, have tapped into their extensive databases and are applying lessons conveyed firsthand by Apollo-era veterans of America s first round of Moon missions in the 1960s and 1970s. NASA s development approach for the J-2X engine includes early requirements definition and management; designing-in lessons learned from the 5-2 heritage programs; initiating long-lead procurement items before Preliminary Desi& Review; incorporating design features for anticipated EDS requirements; identifying facilities for sea-level and altitude testing; and starting ground support equipment and logistics planning at an early stage. Other risk reduction strategies include utilizing a proven gas generator cycle with recent development experience; utilizing existing turbomachinery ; applying current and recent main combustion chamber (Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator) and channel wall nozzle (COBRA) advances; and performing rigorous development, qualification, and certification testing of the engine system, with a philosophy of "test what you fly, and fly what you test". These and other active risk management strategies are in place to deliver the J-2X engine for LEO and lunar return missions as outlined in the U.S. Vision for Space Exploration.

Snoddy, Jimmy R.↗
NASA NTRS2016

An Overview of Spray Modeling With OpenNCC and its Application to Emissions Predictions of a LDI Combustor at High Pressure

The open national combustion code (Open- NCC) is developed with the aim of advancing the current multi-dimensional computational tools used in the design of advanced technology combustors. In this paper we provide an overview of the spray module, LSPRAY-V, developed as a part of this effort. The spray solver is mainly designed to predict the flow, thermal, and transport properties of a rapidly evaporating multi-component liquid spray. The modeling approach is applicable over a wide-range of evaporating conditions (normal, superheat, and supercritical). The modeling approach is based on several well-established atomization, vaporization, and wall/droplet impingement models. It facilitates large-scale combustor computations through the use of massively parallel computers with the ability to perform the computations on either structured & unstructured grids. The spray module has a multi-liquid and multi-injector capability, and can be used in the calculation of both steady and unsteady computations. We conclude the paper by providing the results for a reacting spray generated by a single injector element with 600 axially swept swirler vanes. It is a configuration based on the next-generation lean-direct injection (LDI) combustor concept. The results include comparisons for both combustor exit temperature and EINOX at three different fuel/air ratios.

spray modeling↗